Stem cell treatment of degenerative eye disease

Abstract

Stem cell therapies are being explored extensively as treatments for degenerative eye disease, either for replacing lost neurons, restoring neural circuits or, based on more recent evidence, as paracrine-mediated therapies in which stem cell-derived trophic factors protect compromised endogenous retinal neurons from death and induce the growth of new connections. Retinal progenitor phenotypes induced from embryonic stem cells/induced pluripotent stem cells (ESCs/iPSCs) and endogenous retinal stem cells may replace lost photoreceptors and retinal pigment epithelial (RPE) cells and restore vision in the diseased eye, whereas treatment of injured retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) has so far been reliant on mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). Here, we review the properties of non-retinal-derived adult stem cells, in particular neural stem cells (NSCs), MSC derived from bone marrow (BMSC), adipose tissues (ADSC) and dental pulp (DPSC), together with ESC/iPSC and discuss and compare their potential advantages as therapies designed to provide trophic support, repair and replacement of retinal neurons, RPE and glia in degenerative retinal diseases. We conclude that ESCs/iPSCs have the potential to replace lost retinal cells, whereas MSC may be a useful source of paracrine factors that protect RGC and stimulate regeneration of their axons in the optic nerve in degenerate eye disease. NSC may have potential as both a source of replacement cells and also as mediators of paracrine treatment.

Publication DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scr.2015.02.003
Divisions: College of Health & Life Sciences > Aston Medical School
Additional Information: © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY license(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Uncontrolled Keywords: Developmental Biology,Cell Biology
Publication ISSN: 1876-7753
Last Modified: 18 Mar 2024 08:29
Date Deposited: 19 Mar 2019 11:03
Full Text Link:
Related URLs: http://www.scop ... tnerID=8YFLogxK (Scopus URL)
https://www.sci ... 0306?via%3Dihub (Publisher URL)
PURE Output Type: Review article
Published Date: 2015-05-01
Accepted Date: 2015-02-14
Authors: Mead, Ben
Berry, Martin
Logan, Ann
Scott, Robert A.H.
Leadbeater, Wendy (ORCID Profile 0000-0003-3141-9421)
Scheven, Ben A.

Download

[img]

Version: Published Version

License: Creative Commons Attribution

| Preview

Export / Share Citation


Statistics

Additional statistics for this record